New spaces, new actors, new moralities in the Buenos Aires artistic field

MARIANA CERVIÑO

Madrid

Conferencia; VIII International Conference: NAMING AND FRAMING: The Making of Sexual (In)Equality; 2011

International Association for the Study of Sexuality, Culture and Society (IASSCS)

The period of democratic transition meant for the arts, a shift from the previous exhibition halls, where they circulate works of the eighties, to new exhibit spaces where circulated the productions of young entrants to the field. Enrolled in this network, as director of the Rojas Chamber, and from his role as curator of exhibitions since it opened in June 1989, Gumier Maier had worked not only as an instance of selection and commitment of young artists, but also, gradually, establishing the group as a new position in the artistic field, whose stances created new divisions in that space. His selection criteria, based according to their statements in their "taste", had already set in 1992, an aesthetic universe that stood out as a difference within the artistic field. This aesthetic is defined, first, against the consacred art of the eighties: easel paintings, figuratives, large sizes, which showed the influence, first, by Antonio Berni, undisputed personality in the artistic field democratic transition, and on the other hand, by the Italian Transvaguardia, and other types of configurations that circulated in the artistic centers. But behind the controversies regarding the legitimate artistic style, can be viewed, by 1992, how the politicization of the gay issue, and fighting between different groups that involve this process, within the intellectual field, is expressed in the field art. We describe two events linked to the process of recognition of the group in the field to a given conflict-ridden process of public visibility of new players, which is linked to the politicization of sexual identities, problems will begin to go through the discussions of the artistic field.